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At least one spouse must be a Maryland resident to file here. If the ground for divorce occurred outside Maryland, one of you must have been a Maryland resident for at least six months before the case is filed. If the ground occurred in Maryland, current residency of one spouse is enough.
The complaint will be filed in the Circuit Court in the county where you live or where your spouse lives, works, or conducts business.
Maryland Rule 1-322.1, which took effect on July 1, 2013, limits how much sensitive personal information appears in court filings and therefore in publicly accessible records. It is designed to reduce the risk of identity theft and unnecessary exposure of private details.
In practice it means certain identifiers are restricted or filed separately rather than placed in the body of a public document. Your attorney handles this as part of preparing your filings.
Limited divorce no longer exists in Maryland. It was repealed in its entirety effective October 1, 2023, and absolute divorce is now the only divorce available in this state.
Maryland also has no legal separation status, so there is nothing to file to become legally separated. Spouses who want to settle their affairs before or instead of a divorce do so through a written separation or marital settlement agreement, which is a contract between them rather than a court order.
An absolute divorce is a complete dissolution of a marriage in which either party is free to remarry.
Maryland’s grounds changed on October 1, 2023, and the older fault based list no longer applies. The grounds for absolute divorce are now:
Mutual consent is a separate pathway, available when both spouses sign a written settlement agreement resolving alimony, distribution of property, and the care, custody, access and support of any minor or dependent children. It has no waiting period, and it is no longer limited to couples without minor children.
Adultery, desertion, cruelty of treatment, excessively vicious conduct and conviction of a crime are no longer grounds for divorce. The circumstances that contributed to the breakdown of the marriage can still matter when a court decides alimony, a monetary award, and custody.
Marital property consists of all the assets that were acquired by either or both spouse during the marriage. This is true regardless of how the asset is titled unless it is excluded by agreement or was received as a gift or an inheritance.
It depends on whether the case is contested and how complex the finances and custody issues are. The old requirement to wait a year and a day before filing no longer applies.
Once a case is filed, the Circuit Court for Baltimore County assigns family cases to case management tracks according to complexity, which determines when you reach a scheduling conference, any temporary hearing, and a trial date. The court’s stated goal is to conclude the large majority of family cases within a year of filing. An uncontested case moves considerably faster than a contested one.
Mediation is a process where the spouses sit with a neutral third party to try to come to a settlement.
Often it is ordered by the court, in which case you must attend. There are many benefits to mediation including a quicker and less expensive settlement.
In Maryland, family court hearings are overseen by Masters. They are the ones who will hear the facts and determine the outcome of your case. If both parties agree to the Master’s findings then a court order will be issued. If either party is unsatisfied, they can request the case be heard by a judge.
Separation and divorce can be financially stressful. It’s challenging to go from a two-income household to a single-income household, especially when the amount of expenses almost doubles because both parties now have separate household and living expenses. Having the same amount of income to pay double the expenses puts an incredible burden on both parties to pay all of those expenses in a timely manner, which directly affect your credit.